It's a 1cmc Counterspell. It's easily twice as good as its current Gatherer rating of 2.5. These maybe very niche spells, but they always get played. Think of this one like this: "Counter target Lightning Bolt, Fireblast, or Lava Spike".
Conditional Counters for {U}
Dispel,Force Spike,Spell Pierce
Spell Snare,Mental Misstep,Nix
Counter-Destroyers for {U}
Blue Elemental Blast
Card type-hosers for {U}
Intervene, Envelop,Steel Sabotage
But really, I think the best card in Gatherer to compare this to is Turn Aside
And that's all the cheap-mana counterspells that aren't super powerful. If you want to pay 2 mana, just stick with the Original Counterspell, if you want to pay less, go Force of Will, and I'm not going t... (see all)
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(4/30/2012 2:15:29 AM)
The power level she-a-changin'
The color pie she-a-flexin'
The game it-a-changin'
Posted By:
lorendorky
(4/26/2012 11:45:54 PM)
I liked this card at first, but now I don't see why anyone would use this. It has a very narrow range of targets, so it's not very useful in control, and in Delver, it's not very useful because your opponent is more likely to target your Delver than you, and beyond turn 2 Mana Leak is better.
Posted By:
Stickfire
(5/9/2012 9:29:06 AM)
Art like this makes me wish Hunter S Thompson could paint.
Posted By:
blindthrall
(5/6/2012 12:49:16 AM)
The counterspell in this set suck. And this is the better one.
Posted By:
Fenix.
(4/30/2012 11:27:11 AM)
The card itself is...unique, to put it nicely. But DAMN, the art is something else.
Posted By:
Totema
(5/5/2012 5:17:43 PM)
It is clearly some red hate. It really reads counter target burn spell.
Posted By:
good.beats.for.all
(5/8/2012 8:26:19 AM)
Stops sac effects my ass
Posted By:
Tapir
(7/3/2012 2:32:20 PM)
how bout we all quit bitching about how bad a card it is and recognize it for WHAT it is, which is sideboard fodder against red/black. no you wont burn me, i went first F*** ur duress, etc. etc.
Posted By:
Hand_Bannana
(8/5/2012 11:38:03 AM)
"Outwit, I hate you and you probably hate me too. But we're gonna have to learn to coexist if we want to stop Bonfire of the Damned."
Seriously though, this is the most efficient answer for Bonfire of the Damned. Any blue deck would be wise to run this in its sideboard.
Posted By:
SyntheticDreamer
(8/8/2012 10:50:20 AM)